Racket.



D. H. CODDINGTON.

RACKET.

APPLlCATlON FILED OCT. 30, 1915.

1 1 86,283 Patented June 6, 1916.

@2513 Q4 atto/Meta been found `that professional tennis players eatproficiencyv desirey a i i comprises a framelO preferablyformed ofrolled aluminum, and which may be of DAVE H. coDmNeroN, or NEW YoiaK; N.Y.

` RACKET.

l Application led October 30, 1915. Serial No. 58,890.

To all whom t may concern A Be it known that I, DAVE H. CODDI'NGTON,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the-.borough ofManhattan, in the city, county, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Rackets, of which the followingi'sa s ecication. A he present inventlon relates to lmprovements inrackets and particularly a racket adapted to playing the game Aoftennis.

Heretofore rackets generally have beenv conv structed of a wooden frameand gut strings.

Because of the continuous strain ofthe strings on the frame and theforce with which these strings were struck while play- -lng tennis, thelframe very oftenv became warped and there was a tendency ofthe vstringsto stretch vand become broken, so

that frequent restringing of the racket waas necessary, and the racketonly retainedits perfect playing qualities fora compara-` tively shortperiod. The I strings in the rackets as heretofore 'constructed `wereformed from' a continuous piece which was interwoven between theframe,so;that if the same became `broken in one placa-the entire racketvwould have to be restrung. It has and players of very fine age osarilywea er than the string', which was neceseavierv strlngs used` inordinary play. Because of fthej great force with which these were'usedin playing, the strings were often broken, resulting 1n great expensedue to restringing, `and also the player 1n changing racketswould findthat the new rackets were'not always well suited to his tastes. Forthese reasr'ms,4

the u se of the iinegaged strings hasbeen practlcally prohibitory totheusual players. It is an object` of the present invention,

therefore, to provide an' improved metallic'x racket, which will bellight in weight, of great strength, and 1n whichgthe strings,`

which are` formed of iinevsteel pianoy wire,

will be individually mounted x within. the:v` frame, sothat in the event`ofthe-,lorefallrin'g or looseningof a lsingle string,` the:v same maybe regulated andremoved without the necessity for changing the-otherstrings..

the

Speccationof Letters lfatent.

from n the outside of. i the frame,

Patented June 6,1916,

require the constant care and attention as is the case with the woodenrackets.

lVith these and other objects in view, my

drawings, and will be hereinafter more fully described with reference'thereto and .finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 "is a plain View with partsbroken away and' partly in section, of'my improved racket; ig. 2 is -asectional View of a portion of the j frame thereof; Fig. 3"is`aninterior sidel fview of a portion of the frame; Fig. 4 is Ia sectionalview of a Vportion ofthe frame of a slightly modified form ofconstruction; Fig. 5 is a sectional view ,through the hollow throattaken on the line 5 5 of Fig. l; Fig. 6 is a side view of a modifiedform of string; Fig. 7 is a side View of a modified form of coveredstring or wire; Fig. 8 is a sectional View thereof; Fig. 9 is asectional v iew of a further modified form of metal Similar referencecharacters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several iiguresof the drawings. v

. i Referring to the drawings, and more particularlygto Fig.' l thereof,my invention eithersemi-circular or rectangularA crosssection.- .Theframe. is in the shape of the usual rwell known form of racket, and iscontracted at the throat 11, where itis secured to the handle portionl2.- A bridge 13 is provided across the throat, the curve of which ispreferably continuouslyv formed' invention is shown. in the accompanying1 v with the curve of the frame.A The strings` v14: arefformedof nepiano wire, and are vindividually mountedl in the frame, being' providedat eachend with :screws 15 and 15, thescrew lihaying right-hand screw*These screws, as canbe seen, maybe threaded simultaneouslyinto the,voppositely disposed -holes 16 of thefframe by turning the ,string ,5,forwardly at zbothfends. 'In this way the' l. A further object is toprovide means by-f which the wei ht and balanceof lsuchfj; racket may becontrolled, as desiredftosuitf articular fancy 'Y ofthe playerfand az!furt er object isto provide such a 4racket Y,

tension lof thestrings may be regulated very accurately"@v'vithoutl`necessitating the disturbing'of 'any .ofthe other strings. The holes`16 are preferably formed le end of .100 threads, 'and-the' screwgl-having left-hand screw threads, andl which screw into correthe samebeingthen plugged, as at 17, and the outer surface of the frame suitablyfinished to give to the same a smooth and attractive appearance. 'Adesirable arrangement is to have twelve perpendicular holes at each endand twenty-one horizontal holes along the sides. At the outer portionsof the frame, the ends of several strings meet at the same point, andthese are preferably fastened to the same screw. As these outer stringsare merely used for filling in, and do not come into actual play to anyextent, it is not as essential to have these as well adjusted as thecentral strings, which strike the bali.

lf desired, the frame may be constructed of wood, in which case a narrowstrip of steel 18 is inlaid about the interiorv surface of the same, theholes for receiving the screws being drilled through both the steel andthe wood.

In order to regulate the weight of the racket, the throat is madehollow, -as at 19, and a threaded rod 20 is removably securedlongitudinally therein, being provided at each end with' right and leftscrews 2l and 22, which are threaded into the bridge and handle portion.A detachable weight-regu lating member, which preferably' comprises apair of nuts 24 and 25, is mounted on the said rod, and by moving thesame upwardly, the weight of the racket will be toward the head, whileif the same is moved downwardly, the weight will be toward the handle.in this way, the balance of the racket may be accurately regulated;These detachable members may be changed as desired, to increase ordiminish the weight of the rachet'. The rackets may, therefore, all bemanufactured of a uniform stock weight,

say twelve ounces, which is usually the4 lighter weight racket, and bymerely changing the weights, the player may have any weight desired,depending entirely upon his choice, the same players, as is well known,desiring for different conditions and times various weights of raclrets.The two nuts Q/f'and'Q, which constitute the weightregulating member,are held securely in posltion by the locking action of one against theother.

u In order to prevent the ball from glancing od the strings, the samemay be formed of twlsted wire, as indicated at 26 in Fig.

6, which will give a suitably roughened surface to the net, or, ifdesired, the wires may be covered, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, byv

a tubular covering of rubber, fabric or other suitable material 27. 4

The metal frame of the racket may, if desired, be made of hollowconstruction as shown in F ig. 9, to decrease the weight.

My improved racket will prove especially desirable to players desiring avery light racket having great strength, and by reason of thesubstituting and balancing of the weights, the same may be perfectlyadapted to individual needs.

l have illustrated a preferred and satisfactory form of my invention,but it is obvious that changes may be made therein, and that theinvention may be embodied in rackets other than tennis rackets, allwithin the spirit and scope thereof, as defined in the appended claims.

1. An improved metal racket of relatively minimum vplaying weight,comprising a metalrim, having a hollow throat, remov-y ably securedweighted means within said hollow throat adapted, to vary the weight andbalance of the racket, a handle, and strings mounted within said rim. toform a net.

2. An improved metal racket, comprising a metal rim, having a hollowthroat, a perpendicularly disposed rod within throat, a removablysecured weighted means within said throat, adapted to vary the weightand balance of the racket and to change the balance thereof byadjustmenton said rod, a handle, and strings mounted within said rim toform a net.

3. An improved racket of relatively minimum playing weight, comprising arim. having a hollow throat, removably secured weighted means withinsaid hollow throat adapted to vary the weight and balance of the racket,a handle, and strings mounted. within said rim to form a net.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing said as my invention, l havesigned my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DAVE CODDINGTON.

Witnesses: e D. Lewis Marmara,

JOHN SCHWARZ.

